


The eXtraordinary Men Without Fear

by MissMurdock



Category: Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), Nightcrawler (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Adorable Kurt Wagner, Catholic Kurt Wagner, Catholic Matt Murdock, Gen, Helpful Kurt Wagner, Human Disaster Matt Murdock, Kurt Wagner Deserves Happiness, Kurt Wagner Speaks German, Kurt Wagner Tries, Kurt Wagner and Matt Murdock are friends, Kurt Wagner is a Good Friend, Kurt Wagner is good with kids, Matt Murdock Angst, Matt Murdock Needs a Hug, Matt Murdock is good with kids, POV Matt Murdock, Precious Kurt Wagner, Protective Matt Murdock, Sweet Kurt Wagner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24077935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMurdock/pseuds/MissMurdock
Summary: Matt is once again roped into helping out with the children at Clinton Church, despite his alter ego being very not "Kid Friendly." He doesn't expect to be paired with such an excited, (And to his nose, smelly) fellow Super Hero. Can Matt and Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler keep the small menaces of Hell's Kitchen under control and stop a possible villain attack? It would take a miracle.Note: This is sort of a sequel to "Idle Hands" by me, so check it out if you want more cute Matt and kid's fan fic!
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	The eXtraordinary Men Without Fear

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes inspiration from the Comics, but is imagined to take place in the future MCU, after Daredevil Season 3. Things to know:  
> Daredevil is friends with Spider-Man, they’ve gone on missions together.  
> The Avengers are a kind of well oiled machine in NYC.  
> The X-Men are also in the MCU, this is at a point where the public likes them ok but don't like Daredevil so much.  
> Daredevil’s secret identity kind of got out, meaning a paper published it, he sued them to get a retraction, got it, but not a lot of people believe it. He’s not so well known that he can’t get away with helping out at a medium sized church using only his first name.  
> I do make reference to a story in "Daredevil" by Mark Waid, volume 3, but I also explain it, it's just fun if you have read it.

“Mini Mutants, Mini Mutants, you are free to fly to your first Super station! Follow your leaders and have a Super day! We’ll see all you back in the My Strong Watch Tower for our final Super Secret meeting!” 

Matt Murdock could taste the overly enthusiastic leader’s sweat in the air as she unwisely raised her arms under her polyester cape and pointed the hoards of Vacation Bible School kids towards the exit of the Clinton Church sanctuary. He pitied the woman in charge of leading the 3-10 year olds in the peppy, poppy praise songs that mostly ended up as excuses for them to dance all over the sanctuary. Mostly he pitied the people in charge of shepherding all these kids to the different learning stations. Matt Murdock wasn’t above some self pity. 

“Mini Mutants, we’re heading this way. Uh, after we meet up with our,” he slightly gritted his teeth in a tight smile, “Super Hero helper for this week.” 

Not for the first time Matt wondered if maybe his endless not quite repentant confessions had inspired this particular form of penance. Yes, Clinton Church was not the only one doing the Super Hero Vacation Bible School curriculum this summer. It was quite popular in New York, for obvious reasons. He didn’t even really mind being asked to help. His dedication to saving Hell’s Kitchen extended to making life not so crappy for its younger inhabitants as well. However what he did sort of object to was the irony of being put in charge of a group of children as a “Citizen Helper,” when each team had also been assigned an actual Super Hero helper from the list of Catholic Heroes who wanted to do some volunteer work this summer. To be fair he’d been a bit preoccupied when the offer had gone around for heroes, and besides, the focus was on less violent Heroics for the children this year. The “scary heroes” who relied more on intimidation and well, beating bad guys bloody, probably weren’t all that welcome anyway. He hadn’t actually talked to Maggie about it, but he could read the signs, and the papers. Daredevil wasn’t exactly Sunday School approved at the moment. 

Matt could feel the right side of the room shift in temperature as Sunspot powered up and lit a group of highly impressed eight year olds to their first station (Dynamic Desserts). Banshee’s laugh cut through the high pitched chatter of the three year olds, already practically eating out of his hand despite the fact that he wasn’t using his powers at the moment. Matt had perused the list of Heroes invited to the church and sent a subtly worded warning that Banshee’s particular power set would not be a good mix with his “delicate” senses. 

The excessive use of powers in the large room tingled at the back of his head, and he brushed off the feeling that something in the atmosphere was changing again. Matt sized up his group of nine four year olds already teetering on the edge of violence (Even his cell phone obsessed 14 year old “helper” had finally noticed and put the kibosh on one girl using her friends heads as drums during the opening songs). He supposed he understood why so called “scary heroes” were out this year, but in that case…

“Bamf!” Matt’s senses were suddenly blanketed, no, assaulted, by a putrid sulfuric odor which dissipated far too slowly. When his finely tuned senses finally righted themselves he knew why the atmosphere had felt different a moment ago. His radar brought out the exact dimensions of the lanky, furry blue figure who was assigned to his group this week. 

“Guten Tag children, it is I, The Amazing Nightcrawler, here to bring you to our first exciting station! How wonderful to be working with you and these helpful citizens! Mr….” Kurt hovered close enough to read the Splashy name tag on Matt’s VBS Volunteer T-shirt. “Mr. Matt, and Fraulein" he peered past Matt, but the youth was still buried in a text conversation and hadn't looked up at Kurt's arrival. "Fraulein of Mystery. I promise to keep you and these Mini Mutant’s safe from any dangers in our way!” He did a totally unnecessary somersault, followed by a hand and tail stand and finished off with a flourishy bow.

“Mr. Matt, can we pet him?” The voice of the tiny head drummer, Matt picked her out as a newcomer to Hell’s Kitchen, something about the smell and taste of the place was all over the other eight, but although her scent seemed familiar, he couldn’t quite place her. There were always some children who visited Clinton Church’s well advertised VBS when their church had none, or to take advantage of the free child care, or maybe because they wanted the chance to meet “The Amazing Nightcrawler."

“No, we don’t pet the Super Helpers. Now let’s go to the station, it’s...” he ran his fingers over the braille schedule Sister Maggie had helpfully provided him, “Cliff Hanging Crafts. It’s right down this first hall, no petting, stick together in a straight line, right behind me…”

“It is all right kinder, here, my tail is perfect for the petting, enough room for all. You first little red (The drummer must have red hair). Please, hold gently and we’ll walk together to the Craft Cliff.”

To Matt’s almost annoyance, the group of four year olds he’d been trying to keep in line for the entire fifteen minute opening quietly and happily hung onto Kurt’s tail as they marched out of the sanctuary like a bunch of little ducks in a row. Matt tapped his youth helper’s slightly syrupy converse from an apparently pancake filled breakfast with his cane and motioned towards the door. 

“Come on, before The Amazing Nightcrawler walks away with all our Mini Mutants.” 

Following the sulfur and Pop Tart and Granola Bar scented trail, Matt walked right behind Kurt and the gang of Preschoolers on the way to:

Station 1: Cliff Hanging Crafts

“Dee Dee, Dee Dee, Super Heroes climb cliffs, not cabinets, come down right now… Oh...shoot...” 

Matt made a sudden lunge that would have revealed his secret to any four year old who was paying attention, in order to save the life of the little girl leaping from the craft cabinet in the back corner of the room. She seemed to be aiming to land at just the right angle to break her neck. Luckily no one witnessed Matt’s super save, the other eight children were happily designing their own Super Hero Masks and showing them to an appreciative Kurt who had heavily influenced them all to add some “Nightcrawler blue” to their designs.

Matt acknowledged that Nightcrawler was keeping eight of the children in line, but this one, Dee Dee, the little red head, was trying to make up for the other children’s good behavior by trying new and creative ways to wipe herself out of existence. On the plus side he at least knew one of his charge’s names, he’d learned it when the craft helper screamed “Dee Dee!” when she started playing swashbuckler with the pair of adult scissors she’d somehow gotten a hold of. Matt had kept his not insignificant senses mostly trained on her after that little incident. 

His youth helper had got an important text from her “Mom: (That made her heart and adrenaline spike like she was stepping out of a car on Prom night) and left 20 minutes ago to go “call her back.” Matt figured she and her boyfriend were long gone, probably to Dynamic Desserts to eat Hostess Cupcakes in peace (Dear Lord, did he really smell cupcakes? They were giving them cupcakes for snack?). Unfortunately she hadn’t read the children’s names to him before she left and Kurt had been consoling a small boy who started crying as soon as he saw his Mom and hadn’t had a chance to talk to Matt since Dee Dee had begun her quest to be the Child Without Fear. Matt was easily able to distinguish and keep track of each child, but his powers of control were limited to an unimpressive “Hey you,” if someone was acting up until he had a chance to get Kurt to help him sort them. 

"Dee Dee, you could have got really hurt. Keep your feet on the ground, ok?" He held onto the chubby little girl as she put a hand up and stroked his chin. 

"Your face is fuzzy. But it tickles, it's not like Mr. Night Kurt. He feels like a puppy." 

"It's just hair, kind of like a beard. I'm going to put you down, but we need to finish craft or you won't have time before we need to leave…"

"It's not like a beard, it's just poky. Can't you grow one? My Grandpa has a beard like Santa. Or Wolverine!" Dee Dee growled, sounding about as menacing as a high pitched four year old voice could be. Matt dodged slightly out of the way so that her three raised claw fingers didn't actually rake him across the chin. 

"We need to be kind heroes today, like Nightcrawler.” He eased Dee Dee into a seat on the end of the table and sat next to her to stop any quick exit plans. 

“Or Spider-Man! Why isn’t he our helper?” A boy across from Dee Dee licked his crayon, considered for a second and took a bite. 

“Ah yes, Spider-Man, I too admire his style. Spit please.” Kurt reached across and put his hand in front of the child’s mouth. Brave man. 

“Or the Punish…” the boy spat out with his crayon pieces, Matt stood up and moved to speak over his suggestion.

“Who’s excited for Green Giant Games? Everyone, grab Nightcrawler’s tail, we’re heading to the basement.” 

“Ach, so far away? Wouldn’t it be faster if we could go in the blink of an eye? Who wants to teleport with me?”

“I’m not sure…” Matt could barely make out his own voice over the excited squeals from the entire class as they all rushed to grab a hold of Nightcrawler’s tail.  
"Don’t you have to be able to see the place you’re teleporting to? We’re on the top floor of the church.”

“So considerate Mr. Matt, true, I need to be able to see where I am going, but your Sister Maggie was so kind to take pictures of all the classrooms with her phone and send them to me last week!”

“Really.” Matt’s complicated feelings about Maggie’s good judgment suddenly became even more complicated. “That’s great. So happy. I’ll meet you down there in a minute then,” Matt picked up his cane and started out the door, but he felt a fuzzy hand descend on his shoulder.  


“But of course Mr. Matt should come too, right kinder?” The class cheered again (Except for Crayon Eater, who was holding Kurt’s tail in his mouth). “These kinder will be no burden at all, you won’t mind coming on our trip with us, will you?”  


“No, I…” Too late Matt realized the way he’d misspoke and a second later…  


“Bamf!”

Midpoint Between Stations: The Other Dimension

The overpowering stench of sulfur had been nothing compared to this, this pitch black, suffocating torment. He knew no one else, not even Nighcrawler would experience the atmosphere of this other dimension like him, but it all rushed in and overwhelmed his senses, leaving him feeling like he was being crushed by the strangeness and heat and the smells...

Station 2: Green Giant Games

“I cannot apologized enough Mr. Matt, can I get you something else?”  


Matt sat leaning back against the cool stone wall of the basement while the children thankfully were fully occupied with trying to throw and catch “Super Shields” with the Games Teacher who was wearing a blow up sumo suit painted green. The heavy plastic smell was almost heavenly after that other dimension. Matt couldn’t help himself and retched again as Nightcrawler awkwardly patted his shoulder and offered the mop bucket he’d found in the nearby closet. He could still smell the other place on Kurt’s clothes and his skin. It was always there, but now it reminded Matt of the overwhelming atmosphere and whirlwind that it put his senses into and he couldn’t seem to recalibrate.  


“I’m fine, Just watch the children, I’ll be fine.”  


"I cannot understand you reacting like this, it’s so strange, mostly people find it so exciting to be taken places with me, but you, you look like you’ve seen the devil himself my friend.”  


“Well, at least we know it’s not anything I saw. Probably just a balance thing, it’ll be all right.”  


“Ach, I put my foot in it again, of course I didn’t mean you’d seen…”  


“No, really, don’t apologize. Just check with the teacher where we’re heading next if you can, I think I left my schedule upstairs.”  


“I can go and retrieve it for you, never fear!”  


“No! Wait!”  


But it was too late.  


“Bamf!” As Nightcrawler disappeared the sulfuric smell surrounded him again,  


Matt threw up in the bucket. What a time to be heading to:

Station 3: Dynamic Desserts

“Dee Dee, stop chewing on Gorgonzilla’s ear and eat your cupcake please.” Matt gently separated Dee Dee from her next victim. He wasn’t convinced that Gorgonzilla was his given name, but he was going with it for now. Kurt sat at the other end of the table, happily perched on top of it, which the children found hilarious, but Matt worried would give Dee Dee some bad ideas. She didn’t need any more.  


“We were just boxing, It’s Gorgonzilla against Big D. Right Gorgonzilla?”  


“Wight.” Gorgonzilla spoke cheerfully around a huge mouthful of cupcake, seeming none the worse for wear.  


“This really isn’t the place for boxing, and biting’s not a part of boxing. Do you watch that at home much?” he guessed as Dee Dee lifted her chubby arm as far as it would go and punched the cupcake frosting side down on her paper plate. Brutal cupcake K.O.  


“Nah, just when Mom gets mad. She has a punching bag in the basement and muscles right here,” she smeared a frosting hand onto Matt’s arm. “Show Gorgonzilla, make a muscle Mr. Matt.”  


“Why don’t you show him Dee Dee?”  


“You do it.”  


Matt squeezed his fist closed and Dee Dee poked his bicep appraisingly.  


“Yep, just like that. You must get mad a lot.”  


“Yeah… I do sometimes. Do you?”  


“Sometimes.” Dee Dee turned her attention to picking the waxy bits of frosting from the top of her cupcake out of her pile of sugared mess.  


“I guess we kind of all do, even your Mom, right?”  


“ Sure. That’s why Superheroes go pound people.”  


“Ahh, Kinder, kinder, is this what heroes are to you?” Kurt, listening in on the conversation, flipped to a spot on Matt’s end of the table. “A hero’s job is to protect, to help, not to pound. We don’t want to be the ones scaring everyone away, we want to show you the way to help.”  


“Even the scary ones?” Dee Dee edged slightly away from Nightcrawler, and Matt suddenly realized one of the reasons she’d been suspiciously clingy to him all day. Nightcrawler might feel like a puppy, but his appearance wasn’t one that immediately drew kids to him, with his yellow eyes, pointed ears and dark blue skin, he was sadly what some children were taught to fear.  


“Dee Dee, Looking different or being mad isn’t bad. Sometimes being a little scary can scare away danger. And being mad can help you change things, or help you build something if you use it right, like your Mom’s muscles. The way you can tell someone who’s scary from someone who wants to help is what they do, not how they look.” And that sounded exactly like the end of a Very Special Episode of a Kid’s show about prejudice. But hey, they’re only four, they probably hadn’t seen all those episodes yet.  


“It sounds like Mr. Matt is helping everyone learn a lot today!” Miss Lynn, the snack helper moved around the table, collecting plates and distributing wipes for messy faces. “I know you want to be on your way to your final station as quick as you can, does anyone want anything else to drink?”  


Matt was suddenly distracted by a familiar voice and smell that seemed wrong somehow. Syrup. He smelled syrup on the air, and could hear a quickened heartbeat intruding on his ear. Someone was preparing to spring into action. He heard a laugh and then what sounded like garbled words, but in a moment he knew what he was hearing. His own heart sped up as he stood up from the table and grabbed Kurt’s forearm.  


“Miss Lynn, would you mind keeping track of the class for just a minute? I need to talk to Nightcrawler about our last stop.”  


“Of course, they’ve been so good,” Miss Lynn patted Gorgonzilla on the head, not noticing that she was being flanked by the Crayon Chewer and Dee Dee, who were starting a vicious wipe throwing war behind her back. Well, it wouldn’t kill any of them. Matt grabbed a very confused Kurt by the arm and pulled him back into the kitchen and closed the door.  


“Mr. Matt, what is important about our last stop, I thought it was Lightning Lessons?”  


“It is. But we have a little lesson to teach first. Most of New York kind of knows this, so you might as well to. The reason I threw up after you Bamf’d me was because,” Matt spoke low enough that only Nightcrawler’s exceptional hearing could pick up his voice, “I’m Daredevil.” His reaction was entertaining enough to assure Matt that he hadn’t been reading the papers lately or keeping up with Super Hero gossip. “We have a little problem that I think we can take care of together if you’ll follow my lead. Let’s go….”

Midpoint between stations: The Back Pantry

Ardoth laughed to herself as she gave Zomall’s form a final check. He was hideous, just the sort of creature guaranteed to terrify the human children. After the incident with Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers, many of the Skrulls had sworn to assist where needed with the earth’s defenses, but she wasn’t ready to commit to her service yet. These were her forming years, hers and Zomall’s, and what fun would it be to go into the service with no hilarious stories of scaring humans to tell during long watches? They wouldn’t do any harm, no serious psychological damage and she’d shape shift back into the texting teenager and Zomall would be her shaggy haired boyfriend again. She’d rejoin that blind volunteer and the creepy hero and be back to her home base before the day was over.  


“Make your tentacles a little longer Zomall, and put spikes on them, yes, like that!” She spoke in their native language, not Earth speech. No one could hear them in this back pantry, and if they could, no one but certain heroes even knew what Skrull language sounded like, and none that were at this gathering. How much would they be able to boast, having scared a bunch of humans and gotten away with it under the noses of seven heroes?  


Ardoth lengthened her body until she matched Zomall in his towering height and slimy hideousness. She reached for the door of the pantry, ready to slither through the kitchen to the waiting group of children, when suddenly the lights went out. At that moment she heard a lock on the outside of the door click, and suddenly a putrid smell filled the room along with the sound of a quiet explosion. Immediately she was knocked back from the door and collided into Zomall, who lay moaning on the floor, already attacked by the mysterious intruder.  


“Who are you?” She hissed, molding her lips back onto her slimy body.  


“A citizen of earth. I know you aren’t here with Shield, so my guess is, you two are out to have some fun scaring humans. I’m happy to be friends with the Skrulls, but not if you come near these children. I think the Avengers would have a lot of questions if someone told them where you two are.” The voice floated out of the darkness, just loud enough that she could make it out, but not tell which direction it was coming from.  


“Leave now, or things will get worse.”  


“Don’t tell me what to do human, I’ll do what I want with the little ones!”  


She realized the words were a mistake the minute she’d screamed them out. As if in response to a command the quiet explosions started up again, multiplying and with them a smell, an atmosphere that filled the entire room, till her lungs felt as if she couldn’t take in another breath. She felt her form relax back into her usual appearance and found herself laying across Zomall, also in his Skrull body. Finally she felt a fuzzy hand grab the back of her neck and the pantry disappeared. They were on the street outside the church. The last thing she remembered before waking up at a very unpleasant disciplinary hearing was two blue fists coming at her face.

Station 4: Lightning Lesson:

“All right Mini Mutants, this is your final station, before we go back to The Strong Watch Tower and say goodbye for today. Can we say thank you to Mr. Matt and Nightcrawler for helping you out today?”  


“Thank you!” chorused all nine children, as Nighcrawler executed one of his bows and then plopped on his stomach in front of the teacher. Dee Dee leaned back and rested an elbow on Matt’s knee, having finally tired herself out for the day.  


His plan to disrupt the Kree’s prank and have Nightcrawler teleport them out of the building and call an Avenger’s pick up unit had taken even less time than anticipated. Miss Lynn was even able to pretend she wasn’t overwhelmingly relieved to hand over their charges when they came back. Now the children were copying Nightcrawler, sprawled on the floor in front of the animated story telling teacher, their heads propped up on their hands. Kurt’s tail whipping gently back and forth as Dee Dee occasionally put out a hand to stroke it.  


“All right, Mini Mutants, today we’re going to talk about some special people we know who are heroes, and someone very special in the Bible. Did you know not all heroes come from the same place or get their powers the same way? Some heroes make their special suits that give them power, some heroes accidentally get their powers. Some heroes train and some are born with powers. Today we’re going to talk about Jesus, and where he was born. Even though he was the most special baby with all of God’s power, he was born in a very strange place! Do any of you know where you were born?”  


Gorgonzilla shouted out “The Hospital with the grouchy nurse!” as the other children laughed. Dee Dee’s fist shot in the air, almost clocking Matt in the nose.  


“I see your hand, next to Mr. Matt. Where were you born sweetie?”  


“In the back of a car!” Matt froze for a second, as he felt the teacher’s surprised reaction and the curiosity from the other children. He must be remembering wrong, but even though she wasn't from Hell’s Kitchen she had seemed familiar...  


“Really Dee Dee, a car?”  


“Yep, really. Mom and Dad were stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the hospital and Spider-Man and Daredevil were swinging by. Daredevil helped my Mom and popped me out of her tummy. That’s why they named me after him, that’s why he’s my favorite, he’s a helper.”  


Dee Dee. No. D.D. He did remember that day, when he and Spider-Man had teamed up with Frank Castle and company, and even though they had the entire criminal underworld practically breathing down their necks, he hadn’t been able to keep on going when he’d heard the rapid heartbeat inside the woman’s body and heard her crying. The baby couldn’t wait to be a part of the world, and he had helped her into it. But he couldn’t believe…  


“Your Mutti called you Daredevil? What a name Kinder. A beautiful name! One that you’ll live up to I’m sure.” Kurt reached back and ruffled DD’s hair and she reached up and ruffled Kurt’s black mop. He gave Matt a barely perceptible wink, then plopped back down. DD leaned her head on Matt’s arm, flexing her little fists in her lap and smiling.  


“Well, what an unexpected and exciting story DD! Well, Jesus also had a special name, it came from God, and he sent an Angel to tell his Mom about it. When she first saw the Angel, she was afraid, but soon she realized that he was there to tell her good news, to help her understand. He wasn’t so scary when she realized that he was God’s helper.”  


Matt felt the slow beats of every little heart, smelled the whiffs of sulfur that clung to everyone in the room that didn’t seem quite so unpleasant now. Maybe there was a chance that a certain “scary hero” might make an appearance at this Vacation Bible School. DD would just have to come back and see. 

The End


End file.
